Guest Post by Darius Foroux
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from reading books, interviewing smart people, and having conversations with my mentors is that questions are more important than answers.
But that goes against everything you learn in school where you’re rewarded for the quality of your answers.
However, that’s not what you should judge a person on. Instead, look at the quality of a person’s questions, like Voltaire famously said:
“Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”
And one of my friends who’s a consultant at one of the big three management consultancies, once told me that, “my job is to be ignorant.” He was referring to Peter Drucker, arguably one of the greatest management consultants of all time, who said:
“My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.”
The right question at the right time can spark the right answer that changes your life. I’ve experienced that myself over the last few years.
And I’ve formed a habit of asking myself questions all the time. In this article, I want to share 21 questions across four areas that have the potential to change everything about what you do. Let’s get started.
Life In General
Let’s start with a few yes/no questions to assess how you feel. Like all the questions in this article, I answer them in my journal. I have simply made a note in my note-taking app with these 21 questions.
A few times a month, I open the note and look at the questions (I have added the note to my shortcuts in Evernote so I’m frequently reminded by the questions). I randomly answer a few at a time. I challenge you to use it in the same way. But you can also answer everything chronologically if you prefer.
1. Am I happy?
2. Am I grateful?
3. Do I like my job?
4. Do I feel good?
5. Do I spend enough time on my education?
The reason why these quick questions are important is that you want to adjust your strategy if you answer no to any one of them.
Often, we go through life unhappy, ungrateful, and feeling bad for way too long. If something is wrong in your life, acknowledge it quickly, and then find a solution.
These questions are not only about yourself. When you’re happy and in a good mood, you can lift the spirits of the people in your life. That’s why I focus on fixing my own happiness first. Otherwise, you can’t make your spouse, family, or others happy.
See those first five questions as a quick assessment. Be honest. There’s no one to impress. Think about how you feel.
Recently I read a comment from someone who said that people who think about themselves are selfish — and that we get a selfish world if everyone behaves that way. That’s a very limited and ignorant perspective.
When you take care of yourself and make sure you’re happy, you’ll have a good life. You won’t be jealous of others. You’ll smile every day. And most importantly, you’ll have the resources and time to help others.
That’s how the world works. Success breeds success. Misery breeds misery.
Career
Let’s move to an important area of our lives. You spend most of your waking hours at work. So it’s crucial that you get satisfaction from it.
In fact, doing work that you enjoy is more important than “hygiene” factors like income, job safety, resources, location, etc. It’s one of the lessons I’ve learned from Clayton Christensen’s book, How Will You Measure Your Life?
That’s why I regularly ask myself:
6. What new things am I learning? This is the most important thing for me. When I learn, I feel like I’m moving forward. When I’m moving forward, I feel good.
7. Where is my career going? You need a vision. If you don’t have one — create one.
8. How meaningful is my work? I want to feel satisfied with my work at the end of the day.
9. What can I do that I’m currently not doing? I’m always looking for things to do around the office and at home. That’s how you learn new things.
10. How can I get better at what I do? When you get better at what you do, you can make a bigger impact and solve bigger problems. That gives you more satisfaction. And also more income.
Business
As an entrepreneur, I need to take care of my business. Without it, there will be no income and no money to pay our team.
Sure, you can raise capital or take out a loan. But I believe that you should always be able to make money as a business.
It’s simple: If your business doesn’t generate money, it’s not a business — it’s a hobby.
To make sure we generate income, we ask:
11. What is the biggest pain point that our clients/customers have? We only solve actual problems that other people or businesses have.
12. What is the ideal solution in the eyes of our clients/customers? Give people what they truly want.
13. How can we give away more value without charging more? Over-deliver.
14. Where can we reach our potential clients/customers? Go where your audience is instead of trying it the other way around.
15. How can we decrease our costs? We always operate our business with low costs. We negotiate prices of everything — even simple things like office supplies. That’s better for us and our customers.
Productivity
All the above things sound great on paper, right? But they are nothing without execution. You and I both know that.
But there’s still a difference between how effective we are. That comes down to one thing: How GOOD are you at executing?
These questions can help you to figure that out:
16. What’s my #1 priority right now?
17. How can I achieve my #1 priority faster? It’s not about being impatient. It’s about pushing yourself to think of creative ways to get faster results.
18. What tasks should I stop doing? We all waste time. Identify those tasks and stop doing them.
19. What tasks am I procrastinating? Use the time you’re saving by answering the previous question for this. We all avoid important tasks — things that we should be doing. Things that we avoid.
20. What questions am I not asking myself? There are a lot of things in the universe that we don’t know that we don’t know. So always try to look for the unknown. Keep an open mind.
There are a lot of questions that I’m not asking myself. That’s why I will keep questioning everything — all the time.
One thing I do know is that life has more meaning when you give more. That’s why I want to close with this:
21. How can I help one person today?
A simple gesture is enough. Give your family member a call. Cheer your friend up. Start by helping the people in your life. And then ask them to pay it forward.
You see, it all starts with questions. Just don’t be surprised if you receive everything you ask for like Maya Angelou once said:
“Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it!”
Let me try it. When is the economy finally going to crash? Is gold the ultimate investment when the economy does crash? What concrete steps do I need to take to protect my family when the economy crashes?
Huh. The silence is deafening. Questions without answers are useless.
Should i replace my wooden stairs with concrete steps?
Are they entry way stairs to a home?The answer if yes is I would personally say no to concrete,this is coming from one who makes his living doing carpentry,each situation different and would need more info. to give a good/positive answer but in general me response is no.
This was a good article,am coming off a year spent most of the time helping a family member and need to refocus on myself and get my sense of purpose/moving forward in life back in gear.
I do agree while you do what you have to that enjoying your work is very important.You do not enjoy it find a new path while toughing out the job you do at present till ready to move forward.
“One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from reading books, interviewing smart people, and having conversations with my mentors is that questions are more important than answers.” I’ve got some advice for you, buddy. Maybe you should spend less time reading books and talking, and more time trying to actually accomplish something. Questions don’t mean shit. Being able to solve problems, being able to come up with answers, those are skills you get paid for. Who needs another idiot fussing around asking stupid questions? What a bunch of nonsense
You need to at times ask questions to give good answers/solutions,I ask folks who I work for many questions when say doing a addition/kitchen remodel ect.I need to know the goals of said project from cusotmers viewpoint to be able to give them results they seek.
I am always learning new tricks of the trade from others and ask how they did a certain job and thus learn,am working (albeit slowly)on ham skills and am at starting post,thus,asking questions very important as either lesarn something new right then and there or learn where to search for more information.
Star…certainly you know better than this!
Questions mean far more than “shit”; they are the ultimate tool to improvement. Sometimes I wonder about the color of the Sun on your planet.
The last person, aside from a tax agent, that people want to see on their threshold is me. For over thirty years now, between the check-in with the manager or plant super and getting to the work area, I will usually have no less than 6 people tell me what the problem IS.
My first question?
“”Well, if you know the problem then why isn’t it fixed?”
One has to ask questions, very direct ones. Yes, I piss people off. Then you have to generally discard most answers that run over twenty words.
My first consult in the “Fortune 50” was over in less than 4 hours because I asked the right question.
“How do we know that the volume of water just delivered to the line is correct?”
There were no calibration records in the work area, none in the office, and I was told that “It can’t be wrong, we paid two grand for a meter that was self-calibrating!”
Well, that fancy meter had departed reality to the tune of 15%. After a re-start of the line post re-calibration, defect rate on product went from north of 80% to ZERO.
And I was able to get to the airport and then home in time for dinner.
Not many of them are that easy but the well-timed question saves me from billing hours that I don’t have to. Clients appreciate the fact that I waste neither their staff’s time nor company money. How I get that done without appearing ignorant at the outset is a mystery.
Da P
Perfessor, I get where you’re coming from. I’ve been reading this guy’s posts for the last couple of weeks, and find him annoying. Everything he writes has been about stop striving to improve, accept the way things are, take it easy. Join the slackers. You’ll be happier if you avoid competition. In the case of your example, you asked the right question, but you already knew the answer. You solved the problem. That was my point. Color of the sun? Yeah, you got me on that one. I don’t know. Scalding yellow, maybe. I made a good living for a number of years making a product in the exact dimensions that people needed, because I realized the Chinese versions had been cut down about an inch so they would fit better in shipping containers. An inch was almost imperceptible, but it noticeably affected the utility of the product. And people didn’t mind paying a little more for something that worked better. It was a great little niche, and we flew under the radar with that one for years.
yawn
like the author you sound like a consultant
No, “troubleshooter” is more apt.
If I don’t solve the problem, I don’t get paid… except any reimbursed travel costs.
A little bit different business model than that of the “consultants” I have seen.
Da P
Number 12 – author says give customers what they truly want. I do not do that.
Many times I refuse to give customers what they want. I will only provide that which they need. Many customers do not know the difference.
By giving them what they need, not what they want, I have developed very, very strong customer loyalty. It pisses them off the first time it happens, but when they realize I will not sell them something they do not need, they become strong, loyal, steadfast customers. They know I have their best interests at heart, and will take care of them. Wants and needs are not the same thing.
What a crock of s**t. Most customers today don’t want what they need because it costs to much. What customers want is not to spend money. They are ignorant of what they need until they have no choice because their operation is dead in the water. It is then that they want what they need; and will pay for it.
In today’s business environment most business managers start from the top down with an education in business management but no experience in the field they manage in. In the old days one started at the bottom and worked their way up to their position. These people know what they need and don’t have to go through the experience of spending thousands to correct a problem caused by ignorance of saving a dollar for their corporate investors and a dollar for their own bonus.
Because of their ignorance in correctly managing, these new managers come and go in the corporation like the trade winds. One does not build a loyal relationship with these types because they do not last long. Oh how resumes lie. Everything looks roses roses on paper but in the frying pan of business the truth reveals itself.
These types have no potential to become strong. loyal, steadfast customers because all they are is yes men to the corporate management above them.
Welcome to the real world Llpoh. If you come out of your retirement and re-inter the business world you would be shocked. It ain’t what it used to be. If we were still in the old story I would agree with you.
I should be in retirement but I am not. After a couple of years in retirement I decided it was not my cup of tea. So I jumped back in; not as a manager but rather a technical adviser. I truly love my job. I diagnose problems and fix them. But at the same time I see the incompetence of the new managers and the on going breakdown of the supply chain due to corporate mismanagement because of putting profit ahead of customer needs.
You know what customers need but investors don’t. What investors want is profits on a timeline that must be kept at all costs; even at the cost of production. Products that customers need are being eliminated in the market place because these products do not bring the profits the investors want.
For the corporation profit has become more important than customer service. This is the major problem of capitalism in the hands of investors. And continuing down this unsound road will lead to ruination of the capitalist system.
Capitalism is not bad. The way it is presently funded is bad.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it Mr. Llpoh. We are in a new era of finance and it ain’t going well. The debt will have to be eliminated. But not at the taxpayer expense. Many of these giant corporations are going down along with their expensive top heavy corporate executives that have ruined these corporations.
I think you and I will both see it in our waning lifetime.
Tbird – you do not have the brains God gave a turnip. I still run my business, albeit from afar, with an occasional visit. Modern day tech makes it possible. Skype, ability to access the computers from the distant outback in Oz, or anywhere in the world for that matter, etc., mean I am still daily involved.
You are right re managers having no sense. The world is full of bad managers. But if you can create a long-term business, can create a reputation of helping these bad managers not get fired, etc., the old ways still work just fine. I get calls all the time asking for advice, how to fix issues , to forecast what is coming, re how they can get through the current crisis. Your business reputation carries on across generations. Managers, dumb as they are, are still generally smart enough to turn to those that can help them, especially if they are external to the company, and are not internal rivals.
One of my big customers recently has stopped ordering from China and overseas, after many years of trying to resource their supplies there, and have decided to again make my company the exclusive supplier. Why? We give them what they need, on time, as promised, to the quality required. We advised them over the years what the issues would be on part X if sourced overseas, and on part Y. They decided to source overseas anyway, and had the problems we told them they would. They remembered the caution. And in the end they came back. As we always expected they would. That is a major win for us, and the amount is around $2 million a year in product coming back to us.
You are not a manager’s asshole. You do not know what it takes to run a succesful business. Hope you are a good advisor, because you do not have the business skills to run a food cart, much less a business employing lots of people.
Hell, you do not even understand that nothing in business is more important than corporate profit. Nothing. Customer service is a prerequisite of making profit, but it is not the reason a business exists. A business exists only to make a profit, and you do not nderstand that? Unfuckingbelievable.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
My question here is what the hell are you two smoking?!
whatever it is it, gives them time for rambling missives….
annoying….
why not start your own blog if you’ve got that much to say/write
Lloph – You are a part time employee of the world’s largest non-profit organization.
Llpoh the only thing you are telling me is that you are an absentee slumlord. No one can run a successful business without being there unless it is on the government dole.
“Hell, you do not even understand that nothing in business is more important than corporate profit.”
That certainly is true with with corporations on the government dole. Perhaps you need to start a real business that builds it’s reputation on customer service first before profit factors in. Perhaps you did and are now into profit as your motivating force. Look what is happening to Sears? They started with customer service then dumped it for profit and now the customers have dumped them. If they would have continued with customer service they would have become what Amazon is now.
A real business is built on relationships within the business and it’s customers. It certainly is not built on Skype. You state that profit is your primary motive. So business to you is only about profit and not relationship? That seems to make you a machine that eats without consideration of others that help you make that profit. Your fixation on profit betray your motive about life. That is service to self rather than service to others. Well in our society you have a right to serve yourself; a selfish motive, but we can all live with that so long as your company is not a monopoly; or is it? A government assisted monopoly?
Is your business capitalized by investors or by your own means? If it is capitalized by investors then I can understand your fixation on profits. If it is by your own money then I can also understand your greed. But in the end it is all about your purpose in life and consequently your part in it.
The reason business exists is to serve people. I don’t know what you supply: engines and parts, but if you are a supplier and you are doing well then it is your employees that are holding your company up by their dedication to service. It certainly isn’t you alone. You might think you run a company but really as an absentee owner you are only a small part of the success. A chief is nothing without the Indians. I agree with you that incompetent managers can be helped. That is what I do in a stealth way. Like making sure they have the tools to do a job or thinking about what is needed to start a job and putting a job plan together before starting it. New technology is great but there is still a lot of the old technology out there that is not easy to replace.
The new is replacing the old. Young people are replacing us old farts and I feel it is our place to teach them what we know.
And I think I am in a better place to do that than you. I am in the belly of the beast while you are stuck in your materialistic view of profit counting your money from a distance like Siles Morner counting his money every night from his tailoring business and hiding it in a quarry. I know your type.
You have your view on business. But it is only your view. Service to self. Others are about service to others even if profit is not the main focus.
I do know what it takes to run a successful business. However, successful has a different meaning for me than it does for you. Don’t be so arrogant as to think that you know the only way.
My way re profit is the only way. A business exists to create profit for its owners. Anything else is bullshit. The idea that a biz exists to provide customer service is absurd. It provides service in pursuit of profit. Even when my business was small, it was profitable.
Your comment re absentee owners is also bullshit. A good business can survive without daily involvement of owners. It would do better if I was there. But it is doing fine. Hell, every big biz lacks owner involvement on site. Berkshire and Buffett are exhibit A.
You get stupider every day.
“My way re profit is the only way. A business exists to create profit for its owners. Anything else is bullshit.”
That is the way it should be for your age and your retirement lifestyle. You no longer run your business. Others run it and you just monitor it to make sure it continues to make profit for your consumption. And that is why you say “a business exists to create profit for its owners.
So your purpose in life at your age goes beyond the scope of this article. It goes beyond career, business, and productivity. Does it go beyond consumption; service to self?
We are what we think. You say a good business can survive without daily involvement of its owners. Good is an ambiguous word. So is survival. These are subjective words.
Can a business function without its owners? Yes it can until it goes haywire due to lack of direction. Government is a good example.
In today’s environment a business does not have to make a profit to survive if it goes on the government dole. So you are wrong about a business having its first first priority to make a profit. Local government is a business that does not make a profit. Many corporations and financial institutions are classified as to big to fail so they get taxpayer bailouts. Agriculture does not make a profit and get government assistance. What about non-profits?
Does your business take government contracts or contracts with companies that take government contracts? The existence and subsistence of most companies today depend on government either directly or indirectly. Is this where your profit comes from? If so then your business is just another brick in the wall.
In today’s business climate profit is taxed while lack of profit is subsidized. Small business is the exception. The majority of business is run by corporations. Without government protection most of these corporations would die.
You may think you are a great business man when in reality you have found a nitch for yourself by following the government script.
How about, “What is my purpose in this life?” Unfortunately, I didn’t see that question even eluded to in the article.
Without purpose, and I’m not talking about satisfying customers or being profitable, I don’t even know why any of the other questions even matter in the end.
Ham,that is a ? most folks ask themselves daily.In the smaller pic say just at work my purpose is to do what others ask if working under a boss and when doing side gigs me purpose is to do the job right/make customer happy with results and get paid a fair wage.
The bigger ? of purpose in life is a personal one and tough,seems to change almost daily,when I figure it out will let ya’s know at least what I came up with though results will be different for all.
Two very little boys get taken down a hallway. One boy is put in a room full of wonderous toys, the other a room full of smelly pig poo. The toy room boy plays with all the toys till he is bored then breaks them all. The other boy wallows with glee in the poo and never gets bored making the best of it because well that’s all he knows.
Then the boys get taken out of the rooms and shown each others room. The toy boy scoffs at the poo boy in haughty manner and after seeing the toy room and being scoffed at the poo boy strangles the toy boy.
The author of this piece should value more than his own insights. Be careful what you ask for you just might get it comes to mind.